by RussNelson
It doesn't cross the creek??? But that's the best part! You get the best view of the Erie / Conrail / CSX bridge to the east. Oh well, it's probably a money / ownership thing. It'll get sorted out in a decade or two.
Railroad Forums
Moderator: Otto Vondrak
RussNelson wrote:It doesn't cross the creek??? But that's the best part! You get the best view of the Erie / Conrail / CSX bridge to the east. Oh well, it's probably a money / ownership thing. It'll get sorted out in a decade or two.It will now!
SST wrote: It will now!Yeah the path "emptying" out at State Street was a real bear. Now you only have to ride north on Fillmore to E. Niagara/Erie Canal path.
I was up in Tonawanda yesterday and as I drove up on Young St to park the car, I see construction going on. As I pass through it, I'm flippin' because I see they are extending the path across Ellicott Creek and over the Erie bridge! They are about 97% finished. All the very heavy brush has been removed. Ties and rails removed also. New deck on the bridge installed. Excellent view of the active bridge from both sides of the creek. The path stops at Filmore. This is my only gripe.....for now. I was hoping that they'd take the path and cross the Peanut and connect with the path along Tonawanda Creek/Erie Canal. Oh well...….but this is a huge step! Here are some pics....
End of path at Filmore Ave. The ROW on the other side of the street is under heavy brush and trees. The Peanut is just beyond the buildings in the background. They are installing new sidewalks all along Fillmore Ave all the way to the Canal.
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This picture shows where the path would come out on the north side of the Peanut. The Canal is behind me and I'm looking south.I remember a bridge abutment there on the north side of E. Niagara that had sliding doors underneath. I wonder if the storage was there even when the train went over, or it was an alteration after. Cool stuff. It was removed last year when the business there expanded the building and parking lot.
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SST wrote:Back in the mid 90's I lived in Raintree Island apartments and would ride my bike down to the river. I would cross over the tracks all the time. There use to be two signals at this location. One at the crossing and one on the western side of the bridge. This light, was always on back then. With the path in place, they should hook the signal back up and make it functional again. Somebody removed the crossing signal long ago.That single light solid lit! Good warning for that blind curve indeed!
This area had lots of activity going back into the late 1800's. Some of the row's can still be found.
Fireman43 wrote:On a different note, just to the east along the CSX ???? Main, the GE Plant along the 290 appears to be renovating their siding that serves the east side of their plant, as it looks they are adding some concrete pads along the sidings. Just curious of course. Am i correct?I notice that the GE signage has been removed from that building. I remember seeing a center cab switcher sitting on that siding long ago.
Thanks
Mark
Fireman43 wrote:SST
Interesting back in 2015 you wished the trail would go to Fillmore - looks like it came true!! I see rails in the ground at Fillmore in your picture but i suspect only paved over at Fillmore?
A bit of a digression from this topic - but going back south a bit following the ROW to the area of United Materials , if i remember is there not remnants of abutments in their yard of an elevated ROW that headed NNE toward and over Ellicott Creek? And bridge abutments are evident there also at the ramp off the Twin City HWY. What was that ROW?
thanks
Mark
tonfire72 wrote:Those old abutments supported the elevated "High Speed Line" an interurban line that ran from Buffalo to Niagara Falls in the early 1900"s.The wall that was in front of United Materials (just to the right of the red house) was removed a few years ago. The bridge abutment on the north side of Ellicott Creek, with years of painted over graffiti still stands.
SST wrote:Tonawanda and North Tonawanda both still have rails in the ground. Usually paved over but wear and tear bring them back to the surface. As I've said many times, I hope they don't pull them up. It's part of their industrial history. Don't screw with it.